Working on dreams, from neuroscience to psychotherapy

Within the current clinical practice, the debate on the use of dream is still very topical. In this article, the author suggests to address this question with a notable scientific and cultural openness that embraces either the psychoanalytic approach (classical, modern and intersubjective), and the neurophysiological assumptions and both clinical research and cognitive hypotheses. The utility of dream - in the clinical work with patients - is supported by the author with extensive bibliographic references and personal clinical insights, drawn from his experience as a psychotherapist. Results: From an analysis of recent literature on this topic, the dream assumes a very different function and position in the clinical practice: from ‘via regia to the unconscious’ of Freudian theories - an expression of repressed infantile wishes of libidinal or aggressive drive nature - it becomes the very fulcrum of the analysis, a fundamental capacity to be developed, a necessary and decisive element for the patient’s transformation. The dream can also be use with the function of thinking and mentalization, of problem solving, of adaptation, as well as an indicator of the relationship with the therapist in the analytic dialogue or of dissociated aspects of the self. Finally, the author proposes a challenging reading of the clinical relevance of dream: through listening to the dream, the clinician can help the patient to stand in the spaces of his own self in a more open and fluid way and therefore to know himself better, to regulate his affects, to think and to integrate oneself.

A New Consideration for Validating Battery Performance at Low Ambient Temperatures

Existing validation methods for equivalent circuit models (ECMs) do not capture the effects of operating lithium-ion cells over legislative drive cycles at low ambient temperatures. Unrealistic validation of an ECM may often lead to reduced accuracy in electric vehicle range estimation. In this study, current and power are used to illustrate the different approaches for validating ECMs when operating at low ambient temperatures (−15 °C to 25 °C). It was found that employing a current-based approach leads to under-testing of the performance of lithium-ion cells for various legislative drive cycles (NEDC; FTP75; US06; WLTP-3) compared to the actual vehicle. In terms of energy demands, this can be as much as ~21% for more aggressive drive cycles but even ~15% for more conservative drive cycles. In terms of peak power demands, this can range from ~27% for more conservative drive cycles to ~35% for more aggressive drive cycles. The research findings reported in this paper suggest that it is better to use a power-based approach (with dynamic voltage) rather than a current-based approach (with fixed voltage) to characterise and model the performance of lithium-ion cells for automotive applications, especially at low ambient temperatures. This evidence should help rationalize the approaches in a model-based design process leading to potential improvements in real-world applications for lithium-ion cells.

Memories of Home: Reading the Bedouin In Arab American Literature

In an urban neighborhood with a large Jewish population near my home, there is an Arabic restaurant. Name, menu and ownership mark its ethnic identification, yet its politics are otherwise obscured. An American flag, permanently placed in the restaurant's window since 9/11, greets American customers with a message of reconciliation. I am one of you, it says: come; eat; you are welcome here. In a climate where “Arabs, Arab-Americans and people with Middle Eastern features, everywhere are struggling to merely survive the United States' aggressive drive to ‘bring democracy to the Middle East'’ (Elia 160) and where the hostility toward Arab Americans is manifest in covert “othering” and aggressive acts of surveillance, detainment and bodily harm, the steady bustle of my neighborhood eatery is of consequence.

Social isolation and aggressiveness in the Amazonian juvenile fish Astronotus ocellatus

We tested the effect of social isolation on the aggressiveness of an Amazonian fish: Astronotus ocellatus. Ten juvenile fishes were transferred from a group aquarium (60 x 60 x 40 cm) containing 15 individuals (without distinguishing sex) to an isolation aquarium (50 x 40 x 40 cm). Aggressiveness was tested by means of attacks on and displays toward the mirror image. The behavior was video-recorded for 10 min at a time on 4 occasions: at 30 min, 1 day, 5 days and 15 days after isolation. The aggressive drive was analyzed in three ways: latency to display agonistic behavior, frequency of attacks and specific attacks toward the mirror image. The latency to attack decreased during isolation, but the frequency of mouth fighting (a high aggressive attack) tended to increase, indicating an augmented aggressive drive. Our findings are congruent with the behavior of the juvenile cichlid, Haplochromis burtoni but differ from the behavior observed in another cichlid, Pterophylum scalare. Increased aggressiveness in A. ocellatus may be mediated by means of the primer effect, the effect of prior residence or processes involving recognition of a conspecific.

An Analysis of Water Management for a PEM Fuel Cell System in Automotive Drive Cycles

Low-temperature operation of a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell system requires humidification of the membrane. The amount of water produced electrochemically within the fuel cell system is directly related to the system power output. In a vehicular application where the power output may vary substantially over time, it is critical that water management be addressed in the fuel cell and vehicle system design. This paper introduces the integration of a detailed fuel cell system model within a hybrid electric vehicle system model. The newly integrated models provide the capability to better understand the impacts of a variety of fuel cell and vehicle design parameters on overall system performance. Ultimately, coupling these models leads to system optimization and increased vehicle efficiency. This paper presents the initial results of a parametric study to quantify the impacts of condenser size and cathode inlet relative humidity on system water balance under realistic drive cycles in a fuel cell hybrid electric sport utility vehicle. The vehicle simulations included operation under both hot and ambient start conditions. The study results demonstrate that ambient start or aggressive drive cycles require larger condensers or water reservoirs to maintain a neutral water balance than either hot start or less aggressive drive cycles.